Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Anyone know Chesapeake Bay?

I have received the following email:

I enjoyed reading about you and your little craft. I have a Tanzer 16, and hope to camp cruise the innerside of the Delmarva this spring. Any thoughts on availability of sandy beach, camp grounds, laws pertaining to beach camping, etc.?
David J. Cortes

Unfortunately I know nothing about waters below 50degN, so can anyone help David out?

The picture above, by Pink Pfeffernüsse, shows racing at the Mid-Atlantic Small Boats Festival at St Michaels, MD, last year. See the splendid blog 70.8% for a report on this year's event.

Hey Chris - I've been sailing/cruising the eastern shore of Maryland's Chesapeake Bay for about 20 years. I'd suggest he check out the "Shallow Water Sailors" website and join their message board on Yahoo Groups. The SWS have a great spring cruise on the eastern shore every May - I've only missed one in the last 17 years! Also, there's so many great books about cruising Chesapeake Bay that I'd check the local library and collect a stack of books for winter reading/dreaming/planning of spring/summer/fall cruises.A few favorites of mine are Wye Island, the Chester River and the Choptank River. Maryland provides plenty of ramps and access to the bay - just make sure you have the proper ramp pass/permits so you don't get ticketed.